"Higher Education Counts" is the annual accountability report on Connecticut's system of higher education. Since 2000, the report has been the principle vehicle for reporting higher education's progress toward achieving six, statutorily-defined state goals: (1) To enhance student learning and promote academic excellence; (2) To join with elementary and secondary schools to improve teaching and learning at all levels; (3) To ensure access to and affordability of higher education; (4) To promote the economic development of the state to help business and industry sustain strong economic growth; (5) To respond to the needs and problems of society; and (6) To ensure the efficient use of resources. This report is intended to provide state policy makers with specific information on a number of important indicators of progress measured against specific goals and/or peer institutional benchmarks, and to serve as a backdrop for key state policy discussions on the importance of educational attainment for the future welfare and economic development of the state. This year's results are somewhat mixed, with goals reached or strong progress made on several measures such as licensure pass rates, reducing the brain drain, retention and real price per student. Other areas, however, have shown little improvement or have actually declined over the last five years. Among those warranting particular concern are minority participation, unmet financial aid need, degree productivity in key workforce cluster fields, educational attainment, academic research intensity and educational cost per student. [For related reports, see "Higher Education Counts: Achieving Results. 2006 Report" (ED528617); and "Higher Education Counts: Achieving Results" (ED528616).]